Finch

Un gentil Hanks, un gentil robot et un gentil chien voyagent en van à travers l'Amérique post-apocalyptique, apprennent à se connaitre, apprennent au robot à conduire et jouent à la balle avec le chien. La plus banale des banalités cette année dans le domaine du cinéma, dont vous attendiez plus que simplement la perfection technique. Le seul moment intéressant mais inabouti du film est quand le robot se voit dans le miroir. Cela dure environ 20 secondes. (06/11/2021)

An optimistic, post-apocalyptic road movie with a subliminal storyline about people all being bastards and so you’d better kill them or run away if you see them. Hanks survived Covid-19, just to be taken out by a solar flare on Sun-28 and an ozone layer full of holes (like Swiss cheese), so he builds a robot to look after his dog when he is no longer around. Because a mega-storm is headed for St. Luis, he packs up his stuff, robot and dog, and heads for San Franscisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge before he dies. This picture that everybody and nobody will like is rather clichéd, but alternates moods (from over-the-top joy to pessimistic depression) unexpectedly naturally. The robot’s whistles in tried and tested Number 5/Wall-E style is fun and Hanks’ stern scolding that often presents the main human protagonist as an anti-social asshole acts as a dark counterbalance. Sapochnik’s fairly original approach is enhanced by several catastrophes that the heroic threesome come up against on the journey.  It certainly could have been approached from a different direction and called it Jeff and looked at bringing a robot to life, using the potential of the material to the full (and make it three hours long), but the storyline about coming to terms with death also has its positive side. (11/11/2021)

For the entire (unjustifiably long) running time, I couldn't tune in to the simultaneously unstimulating stylisation of robot uncle, dog and family escapades like Short Circuit and Wall-E and the hopeless post-apocalypse where man becomes wolf like in The Road. And the standard good (however routine) performance of Hans together with the solid pace and visuals doesn't save much. (07/11/2021)

A well-crafted film for people who like to be moved by cute little dogs, cute little robots, and Tom Hanks in good-hearted, warmly human mode. Otherwise, kitsch as hell. (06/11/2021)